“The details of her past have nothing to do with the present. Kai will be just fine out there. The doctor cleared her this morning.”
Dirk held up a sheet of paper and held it toward me. I snatched it from his hands.
“He cleared her along with an amended note mentioning that the probability of another incident occurring is very likely, making her an unfit candidate for our production.”
My eyes drifted over the doctor’s note, which was dated this afternoon. “You son of a bitch.”
That gave Dirk a hefty chuckle. “I suppose you’ll be open to negotiations now? I’m sure we could make arrangements for Kai to stay on board…” He grinned during his pause. “If you’re willing to give up a few things.”
Heat exploded in my chest. “Like?”
“Like… your musical. Sign the production over to me, and Kai can stay. Otherwise, she disembarks in LA tomorrow. For good.”
Flames from the inferno inside me licked up my throat. “You motherfucker.”
“Just doing what I have to do. Just like I know you’ll do what you need to do. That is, if you truly care about the girl.” His eyes narrowed. “Do you, Bash?”
Did I care about Kai? Fuck yes.
Did I want to give up my musical to Dirk? Hell no.
Did I have a choice? For the first time since this shit show began, I had started to feel like my options were limited. The walls were closing in around me, and time was running out.
“Think about it.” Dirk was taunting me now, filling my mind with his final threat because he knew he’d won. “You sign the show over to me, and Dr. Franklin’s amended statement goes away. Kai keeps her lead role, and then you never have to deal with me—or Angst and Grace—again.”
None of it sat right.
“What about ticket sales?” I asked. “The cruise line knows that it was my name that sold out their cruise season. How are you going to explain that one?”
“Don’t have to. It’s not my fault Sebastian Chase doesn’t have the stomach for cruise ships.”
So that’s how he thought he could get away with it—faux publicity? And what choice did I have? If I didn’t sign, Dirk would definitely make good on his threat and let Kai go.
“And what about me?”
Dirk sat back as if he was about to be reasonable for once in his goddamn life. “You’ll get exactly what you want—to be released of all ties with me. When we dock in LA tomorrow, you’re done. I don’t need you around, poisoning the crew with whatever stories you’d tell.” His eyes searched mine. “So what’s it going to be, Bash? Are you going to save yourself? Or Kai?”
My entire body shook as I let out a heavy breath. There was only one option left. “You win, Dirk. Kai stays. Angst and Grace is yours.”
Chapter 41
Kai
Over an hour after the show let out, I finally knocked on Wayne’s door. By the look on his face when he answered, he’d been expecting me.
“Where have you been?”
I shrugged. My eyes felt swollen from crying, and my heart was unbelievably heavy in my chest. I was tired and aching from yesterday’s accident. But I couldn’t sleep. I hadn’t even tried. Instead, I’d taken to the jogging trail, fully dressed, and tried to run off my broken heart.
“Just around.” I said miserably. After everything I’d been through to get here, to be on this ship in the middle of the Pacific, with Sebastian, how could it all just be… over?
Wayne’s face fell as he pulled me into his arms. “Sebastian’s been blowing me up, trying to find you. Where is your phone?”
Another tear fell from my eye as I swallowed against the lump in my throat. “Why? You saw him out there tonight. He’s never looked so happy. So alive.” I shook my head. “I can’t talk to him right now.”
Shane peered at me over his reading glasses. He was holding his Kindle, but he set it down to give me his full attention. “Don’t be that stupid girl who doesn’t talk to the guy before they figure out everything is just a big ol’ misunderstanding.”
I glared back at my best friend’s boyfriend. “I just got fired. Meanwhile, Sebastian was playing his heart out tonight, as if nothing had even happened. That’s not a misunderstanding. That’s life.”
Wayne looked over his shoulder at Shane. “She’s hurt, babe. Give her some time. I’m sure she’ll talk to Sebastian when she’s ready.”
But even knowing Wayne was right, that I was hurt and too upset to hear Sebastian’s side of things, I wasn’t sure I could ever get over the sight of him playing tonight. He was so in his element. So happy. And he deserved every second of that, no matter who was dancing below him.
“Maybe he didn’t know you weren’t out there,” Shane threw out. “Is that possible?”
I nodded as a glimmer of hope sparked in my chest at the idea, but it deflated just as quickly. “It still doesn’t change the inevitable. He’s staying. I’m going.”
“Why are you going? Did Dirk even give you a reason?” Shane asked.
I nodded, but something about the vague conversation with Dirk after my run-in with Claudette was irking me. “Well, yeah. It had to do with the accident. The doctor said the odds of something like that happening again, given my history, were likely. Dirk said he didn’t want to take that risk with his production.” I shrugged. “I can’t argue that, but…”
“What is it, Kai?” Wayne scooted forward and took my hand.
I sighed. “Sebastian and I didn’t tell the doctor about what happened when I was younger. When I woke up, he warned me against divulging any details, just in case it got back to Dirk. Yet Dirk seemed to know everything.” My eyes floated to Wayne’s as my chest ached. “You don’t think Sebastian told him, do you?”
Wayne’s eyes drifted away as his mouth hung open. He looked at Shane as they shared some kind of mutual understanding, then Wayne looked back at me with an expression I would never forget—guilt, shame, apology. He always wore his every emotion on his face, and that moment was no exception.
“You didn’t,” I said because I already knew.
Wayne’s face completely crumbled as he placed his head in his hands. “God, Kai, I’m so sorry.” He shook his head. “Dirk came up to me in the waiting room of the medical center after I saw you. He seemed so concerned but didn’t want to disrupt you. I-I told him everything.” He looked up, the face of a traitor staring back at me.
But I knew my best friend more than anyone, and even in my heartache, I knew he wasn’t to blame for this epic disaster.
“Don’t beat yourself up.” I swallowed and stood, folding my arms across my chest. “Dirk would have found a way, with or without you.”
Wayne stood and wrapped his arms around me. “I’m so sorry. You don’t deserve this shit. If I find that guy, I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.”
Shane met my eyes. “I know you don’t want to talk to Sebastian, but maybe he can shed some light too.”
“I’m starting to lose hope that there’s any light left.”